This year, I applied to do an Administrator Exchange to Australia. I figured this would be an amazing two-fold opportunity. First, I could learn about how other governments are supporting Aboriginal Education in their corners of the world and second, I could roam far away from home for a while.

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Sydney

My first destination down under

So CUTE!!!!!

These are my new best friends

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Reef Day!!!! Bucket list you are getting smaller!!!!!!!!!

What an awesome, awesome, awesome place! Met the bus to go to the marina at 9 am. By 10 am we were headed out to the reef. Waters were a bit choppy as there was a wind warning today. Lucky for me I don't get seasick....but I can't say the same thing for a bunch of other poor souls out there today. We arrived at the outer reef at about 11:30 on this lovely vessel. It lands at a pontoon that lives out at the reef.

At that juncture, it was time to go for a snorkel! Here's where you get in the water (and no, I am not in this picture):

When I got out of the water, I went for a reef tour in a semi-submersible vessel where we got to look at some deeper parts of the reef. Its really affected by sunlight so when you are in direct light, its brilliant with a lot of cool colours. Deeper out though, or when the sun goes behind the clouds, it looks more like this:

After some hard earned lunch it was back into the water for a final snorkel before we had to leave to get back to the marina. It was low tide at that point so more and more of the reef was exposed to the air. Its really cool since this part of the reef is right at the continental shelf - just beyond it, the water drops off to over 500m deep! Yikes. Kinda makes me glad the current was going in the other direction!

Anyhoo, even though its 5:30 am your time, its supper time here....14 hours in the future! Gotta run, I'm hungry! Tomorrow, I'm off the the Daintree Rain forest, Cape Tribulation, and the Mossman Gorge! Stay tuned!

About Me

I believe that the most important things in the world are accomplished by people who keep trying when there seems to be no hope...this includes finishing multiple sewing projects in time for Christmas and getting everything you need in a suitcase when you want to travel.
I like learning to do new things which is what initially led me to sewing and quilting but I like to do them well. This part has led me to drink a lot of wine. As such, I can get quite edgy when I'm working on a project.